Sage and Susannah
by SaGe FaE
Summary: [CHAPTER IV POSTED] Suze's life is getting stranger by the minute. . . Jesse is a mathematical genius, her long lost twin is coming to Carmel, she actually HAS a long lost twin, Her mom is pregnant and she has. . . NO DATE FOR THE FORMAL! [AU. JS]
1. I: Fairytale

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**The Story of Sage And Susannah: **

**A Fairytale of Trust and Secrets**

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_Once upon a time, in a land far away, there were two baby girls, born on the same day_

_These girls were sisters; both of them had green eyes, chestnut hair and loved to hear their mother's lullabies_

_Susannah and Sage, their names were known throughout the lands, where the girls would walk with their parents, holding each other's hands_

_Sage was the quiet one, yet creative as she be, Susannah was the brave one, as anyone could see_

_Susannah played the sports and Sage read the books, both of them had the knowledge and practice, the charms and the looks_

_Once home from school, the girls would share what they learnt, what games played and books read, which stars and points earnt_

_The girls were loved by everyone in the town, from the women, to the children and the men; they never let the twins down_

_But one-day horror played and Sage was taken away, oh how the villagers mourned and the old priests pray_

_Affected the most was Susannah, dear, when they told her the bad news she pretended not to hear_

_Every night when she went to sleep, Susannah would say, "Mother, Father, where is Sage?"_

_This question was to much to bear for them, as she asked it everyday, finally they answered "She has gone away"_

_But Susannah never believed it, cried as she did, so her parents made a lie, a serious, bad fib_

_"You have never had a twin sister, she was only a friend, in your imagination, Suze, she was all pretend"_

_It took a while for her heart to mend and her soul to readjust to life, but Susannah took her world back with anger and with strife_

_She never did tell her parents her secret, that she could see the dead, if they did not believe her about her sister than why believe her about this instead?_

_When she was six years old, as this all happened at five, her father suffered from heart attack and never did survive_

_Again, Again Susannah mourned, although she saw her dad again, but dead he were and down he went into her dark memory den_

_Ten years later, Mother and daughter moved, to Carmel California, where their lives really improved_

_Once upon a time, in a land far away, there were two baby girls, born on the same day_

_Separated at age five both children forgot their twin, but as missing Sage moves to Carmel, our story does begin…_

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**And THAT was the prologue of Rock Fae's (Isadora Sofia) new Mediator Fanfiction Story. I will be working on this AND _Stuck In Between_ for a little while before perhaps attempting the sequel to 'Rain Song.'**

**I have done my part (the story) and now I ask if you could do yours…**

**Aka. Please Review :)**

**∞ Isa ∞**


	2. II: Distant Lives

**Hehehe. Thanks for all the reviews on the Prologue of 'Sage and Susannah' ppl. I thought that getting this chapter up quite quickly was my reward to you – but it didn't seem to work that way. I lost half of it on a stupid floppy disk… last time I rely on _those_ things to save my precious fanfiction.**

**Okay, I've stopped babbling. Here is chapter one of my ficcie. Have fun and enjoy reading… also, can you please remember to review:D**

**∞ Isa ∞**

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– **Sage's POV, Friday afternoon –**

"Oh, come on, boo, just let me go with you." Alejandro pleaded with me. No matter how much he did, however, I would never agree to his coming to Carmel with me. That would just be total destruction.

I turned around and laughed at him, taking the army-navy surplus cap on the top of his head and putting it onto mine, "Maybe next time, sweetpea, I think I'll take this one a-solo!" I raised my arms as I said this and did a little twirl. Alejandro's hands moved to my waist and we danced a little number before letting go.

Alejandro Reveille and myself were dance partners at Baila, our local studio in Houston, Texas. We were not, however, born anywhere near each other. Alejandro was 100 Puerto Rican and I was full fledged New York, we had very many more differences, such as Alej fought with his parents all the time – I had never met mine myself. I was taken from them when I was five, all I remember are the faces of a azure eyed woman and a shaggy haired man that seemed to be burnt onto the back of my eyelids like tattoos when I slept.

As I was musing in a daydream state, Alejandro almost dropped me but managed to changed it quickly into a sleek drop. I swept the floor and was, as if someone had clicked their fingers, knocked back into reality. Alej bought be back up, hugged me around the waist and I twirled again before we stopped. Behind us, we heard faint clapping.

Antonio, Alej's Uncle who married and lived in Texas, was behind us. When I came up to him he kissed my cheeks and gave his nephew a masculine hug. "_Hola_, senorita Sage y senor Alejandro, tu como bein?"

I smiled right back, I had never really understood Antonio and Alej's fast Spanish converses. As both Reveille's began speaking at a swift pace, Beatrice, Antonio's wife, came up behind me and hugged me from behind. "Sage! Baby doll! How' ya been?" I turned around to face her and gave her another hug.

"Fine, Bea, et toi?" Beatrice snorted and a smile broke out upon her face soon enough.

"I'm sorry for laughing, deary, but your french still needs a little work!" She patted me on the shoulder and looked at her husband affectionately – you could tell on sight that they were gaga over each other. Bea went over to fix Antonio's collar, which was once again sticking up.

Typical Bea: the perfectionist. Alej ran away fast enough before Bea could see his untucked shirt. He did it for good purpose, though, so he did not cause an uproar in the studio. Bea would go haywire and we would have to stand like army men for at least a half an hour before she was finished lecturing us – Antonio included.

Alej joined me again and I noticed his shirt was neatly tucked in. Bea came up to him, scanned his clothes and winked at him, "Your learning, spunk bubble." Bea liked to call us different names. I was baby doll and deary, Alej was spunk bubble and sweetpea (which is where I got my nickname for Alej from) and Antonio was gorgeous and senor.

I heard Antonio sigh, "Come now, mujer-" mujer, pronounced as 'mu-keh' meant woman, the name Antonio called Bea "-let us go celebrate our senorita's last day in Houston!" He lead Bea over to us, armed wrapped around her waist.

Antonio whispered something in Alej's ear which I could not hear, and Alej ran off to go get something from his room in the roof of the studio. "Senorita," Antonio's gaze was averted to me, "You should get proper clothes on, chica, we would not want our senorita getting the flu before she arrived in her new state." I looked down at my quite revealing rehearsal dress, made by Tess, our sewing mistress, and knew exactly where Antonio was coming from.

Bea winked at me and I screamed childishly as I ran out of the dancing hall.

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**- Susannah's POV, Friday afternoon –**

I sighed deeply, being Susannah Simon today was too much work. Seriously. I dropped off my bag in my room, ignoring the ghostly presence at the window, and walked into the bathroom.

On noticing I was in the room, the ghost turned to me. I did not see it but I could swear he blinked three times before getting up and following me into the bathroom. Don't ask me how I knew this, but I did.

Jesse stood in the threshold of the door. I felt my face grow hot but remembered the ghostly glow surrounding him – _there was no where it could go, Susannah_, I reminded myself, _now wash your face and get out of the bathroom!_

I proceeded to do so and all the while doing it, I could feel ebony eyes on my back.

Once I washed my face and my hands, I turned around, feeling a little more revitalized. Just as I was about to breeze past Jesse, he held my shoulder lightly. A smile played on his thin – and very gorgeous – pink lips which moved softly as he spoke, Spanish accent carressing all his words.

"How was your day, Susannah?" I sighed again. Why didn't he call me _querida_ anymore? _Querida_ was Jesse's private nickname for me. I missed it come from his lips, sometimes purposely and sometimes accidentally. I didn't care which one – it would most probably be the latter since Jesse usually blurts it out in a sentence – as long as he said to me again. Because he hadn't called me that for ages, the longest time. Ever since we…

Well, ever since we kissed.

It was only once, and although quite short, very passionate. I remembered how my youngest stepbrother, David (I call him Doc), had came bursting into the room, talking to me about something or other and ruining the remainder of the kiss. I had broken apart quickly and started to talk to him politely as if everything was normal.

But inside I had cussed him (Doc, I mean) and how every single time I wanted to reveal my feelings – we were interrupted.

Here and now I answered Jesse's question. "It was good, Jesse." Then I turned and walked back into my bedroom. Jesse followed, I could hear his swashbuckling – er, I mean, riding – boots hit the floor softly, spurs shaking.

Ignoring him, I emptied the contents of my bag out onto the four-poster bed mom had jazzed up for me when I first came to Carmel, and sorted through the mesh of papers, textbooks and food wrappers.

Through my mixing and matching of schoolbag contents, I found a box of ticktacks. I threw a few into my mouth and continued to look for my Trig homework. Eventually, I found it in my Biology book and, moving the excess stuff off my bed, began working on it right away.

Every now and then I would look up at the window seat and see Jesse, reading one of the old tomes that Father Dominic gave him (he called it light reading… er – light?), he would look up and meet my eyes for a brief moment and then a small smile would cross his face before he started to read again.

Sighing for the gazillionth time that day, I rested my head on my left hand and started to doodle along the boarders of my Trig homework sheet. I was sure having trouble with this maths, I thought glumly.

Somehow, my body language on the subject most probably, Jesse caught onto my thoughts. His head arose and he asked, "Susannah, you look like you are having trouble with your-"

"Trigonometry." I replied dully.

"Trigonometry," Jesse repeated, nodding twice, then continued whatever he wanted to say, "May I be of some assistance? I may not know much about the advanced work you seem to be doing in the 21st century but I do have the basics which may become useful." I handed over my homework willingly, my pacer along with it.

Jesse looked at the pacer skeptically, "What is this?"

I rolled my eyes, "It's a pacer. You write with it." I stood and took the pacer from it, then scribbled on the back of the sheet a little, finally, I gave it back to him. The eyebrow with the cute little scar – one, I knew, for a matter of fact, Jesse got from a dog bite back in the 1850's – arose and Jesse studied it with fascination.

"Interesting," he said with a crooked grin up at me, my heart beat a little faster as it always did when Jesse smiled at me and he looked at the homework – taking all of it in. "Aha!" He claimed after a moment and began scribbling, with the pacer, rapidly. He did this until the lead apparently wore down. Then he just looked confused.

At this, I couldn't help but laugh. I shoved him over with a pushy "Scoot," and then clicked the end of the pacer down twice then, as the lead came through, vacated the premises of the window seat and handed Jesse the pacer back.

Now both eyebrows were raised, but Jesse said nothing. He just continued to scribble in, what seemed to be the answers. I couldn't see whether or not they were correct because Jesse's hand just zoomed across the page. I noticed, with a small smile, that he was left handed. Wasn't there, like, a law back in 1850's about people having to be right handed? I didn't know. Maybe I was just thinking to much.

Or too little.

The latter must have been true, Jesse, after a moment or two, handed back my work – three pages of Trig filled in with the working out included. Problem was – Jesse's handwriting was old-fashioned, and, unlike my messy scrawl, very much neat.

But who cares about that right now! I thought as I looked at the answers, I registered that they were all correct. When I showed Mom, who was an expert at these things, she agreed. Then she asked who wrote them out. I told her I would come back to her on that one and she just stared at me. Uh-oh. Mom was coming onto me.

Meh. I was more stunned at the fact that – JESSE WAS A TRIGONOMETRY GENIUS!

That's a little too much, if you know what I mean. Your boyfriend being a Trigonometry genius while you can't even succeed in simple algebra sums. I couldn't really call Jesse my boyfriend though, he had only kissed me once and had never even asked me out.

Well, shouldn't that kiss mean something to him? It sure meant a lot to me – in the relation of us. This should at least mean that Jesse liked me even just a _little_ bit in that special way, shouldn't it?

I was at a loss, with both trig and the status of myself towards Jesse.

When I came back into the room after having the chat with my mom, Jesse was back to reading. I looked down at the red ticks on the page. "Helloooooo… Mathematical Genius? Yeah, it's just Suze here telling you, Jesse, received an A+ on your Trig homework… or, actually… _my_ Trig homework, to be exact."

Jesse looked up from his book, apparently not hearing a word I had just said, "Huh?" He asked, eyebrows again raised. I breathed out in a huff, my sarcasm was _so_ wasted on him. Yeah, that's right. Him and my mom. My mom was just to happy and Jesse was obviously too smart to know what my dumb comments actually meant. That and he was not _hip_ with the _lingo_ much.

Meh. Whatever.

"What did you say before Susannah, _lo siento_, I was reading." A smile was plastered on his face.

My own eyebrow raised, I put my hands on my hips and smirked, "I just came to tell you that your apparently a mathematical genius. Can you do my homework for the rest of the year?"

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**The end of chapter one… Finally. Lol. Jesse is a mathematical genius… don't ask where that came from. Most probably out of my mouth as a burp. Or out of my ass as a fart, I do NOT know.**

**Gah. Thanks SO so much, again, for your reviews on last chapter. In the next, we will be learning a lot more about Sage and how she's changed from the seemingly quite, brainy typed girl to the carefree, graceful dancer. By the way, while I'm at it, Sage's school in Texas commences earlier than the Mission Academy, thus finishing earlier as well. Don't ask me if this is true, though, I'm from Auckland, New Zealand.**

**Please review, I should try and get the next chapter written as soon as I can but I cannot make any promises.**

**As for now? Our acknowledgements for the Prologue:**

**_Alexlily_ – Why thank you for the review. The poem was easy, we are learning about dream poetry in school so I decided to write a story one about the mediator. Pvtt.**

**_Mysteriously Mystical_ – Five minutes, believe it or not. I'm good at rhyming words. The 'fib' part was a little hard though. It took a lot of brain cells to think it up.**

**_Iluvmeg – _thinking about evil names is perfectly fine. But Sage isn't an evil character… now Paul? Whoo yeah! Evil AND hot. Lol.**

**_N.S.Hoerter_ – Thank you:)**

**_Amo el Jesse_ – Hehehehe. Did you like this update? Tell me:) :) :)**

**_Whitedestiny34_ – It's only for the prologue, as you can see by this chapter. I just wanted to try something new, ya know? Heh.**

**_L l u v i a_ – Thanks, Raine. You bright up my live… which sucks… ya ya… don't mind my gay singing. Lol. I LOVE REVIEWS:D How's chappie 1 of Torero? I've finished the prologue for you:grins:**

**_Sweetsonwhells_ – what type of a story do you think it would be if Jesse and Paul weren't involved? BORING. That's what. Thanks for r&r-ing me.**

**_Nikki007_ – Heh. Thanks. You MUST update on your stories… but alas, I know how you feel. It's hard with all the pressure of other things, such as school (die) and actually having a social life… unlike Suze… lol. Joking. She rocks.**

**Until next time…**

**∞ Isa ∞**


	3. III: The Other Me

**Hello, fellow readers. Sorry for the long wait… STRESSFUL! I've been on two excursions in one week! Can you believe it? Arg. So now you know my reason. I also have something to say to one of my reviewers, rOSEY:**

**I AM SO SORRY! I could not have possibly known that you wanted to write the same thing. I am not a mind reader… please forgive me! (Btw, if you still write your fic… can I read it? Lol. I am SUCH a suck up.) Also… How could you think up Sage and Alej, Bea and Antonio along with the Mathematics thing the exact same as me?**

**I made this chapter super ultra extra long, because you had to wait a while.**

∞ **Isa ∞**

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**- Sage's POV, Saturday Morning –**

I had a hangover.

Yeah, I know, being sixteen means I cannot drink in the state of Texas at all. But Alej looked around twenty and I looked eighteen so all was good. They gave us drinks – we accepted – what else was there to do?

Where did we go, you ask? Oh. Club Pleasure. Don't let the name fool you, it isn't a strip club or anything – it's a dance floor full of strangers, yet you dance with them and manage to know each and every one by name when the night was over. Lets just say, every single time I go, half of the men that are under 25 give my their phone number. And half of them have wives. I guess a little bit of the right make-up makes me irrrrrisistible! (Quote from Alej, who always pretends to be enamored with me)

Back the present – that is correct. Sagey-Wagey had a hangover. And a damn bad one at that. How was I going to be able to fly over to Carmel with such a migraine as this? I thought once I woke up, felt the dramatics of my headache, and snuggled deeper into the cotton sheets.

After a while, I got a little bored with the cuddling up to blankets. So with all my power, I bounded up – causing my headache to amplify itself and get worse by every aching step – and slowly make my way into Alejandro's room, where he was sleeping soundly in his queen-size bed. (_Isa: the only thing Alej and Jesse have in common is that they are both Spanish and know how to salsa. Alej isn't Jesse's double, for instance, he is much younger and has lighter skin and lighter hair than Jesse's olive shade and black hair_)

I envy him sometimes, really, he gets a queen-size bed and all I get is a single? Oh well. I peeled of the sheets softly and slipped myself in. Once my body was securely in the bed, I turned on my side and curled up to Alej – molding into the shape of his body with my arms wrapped around his waist. We did this often.

Not to say that me and Alej were in a torrid love affair together, oh-ho no. I didn't say I didn't fantasize or dream about it, though. I understood that a relationship with Alej would turn out to be complete chaos. Especially since we had been friends for so long. So long.

I proved that there was nothing but mutual friendship – perhaps a little flirt never hurt, but I had to be careful – by lowering my head to Alej's shirt clad shoulder blade and bit down while securing my hands around his front and my body leaning on his back.

When I say 'bit' – I mean I bit hard. So hard that Alej shot out of the bed like hellfire, leaving me in fits of giggles, and just stared at me. It took him a moment before he realized what he was seeing.

Then he went into a daze – as he usually did, and left the room. He walked casually into the kitchen and exclaimed to Bea and Antonio, who were both apparently in there, drinking their morning coffee, "She bit me. Sage freakin' bit me." In the Baila dance club, we were not aloud to swear except for the occasional slips of 'freakin', 'shit', and 'bitch.' Bea, although loving various names, hated to hear swearing. She was, as I said before, a perfectionist. Everything was just right in the Baila dance studio for Bea Reveille.

I walked into the kitchen, on the floor above the dance studio – we had two floors, the bottom was the actual studio itself and the top was where all the rooms were, including bathrooms and, of course, the kitchen – and smiled sheepishly. Antonio raised two thumbs, "Senorita, good job on biting my nephew." Alej looked at him in mock-horror, although Antonio would never really mean what he said. Here in the dance studio humor is our god to which we worship.

What else could I do but shrug? I moved my shoulders up and down once and then went to sit down next to Bea. She grinned at me over her pancakes – our usual breakfast. I thought at first that she was smiling because I had bitten Alej, but when she continued smiling it quirked my interest a little more.

"Sup, Bea?" I was a little slow in the morning, especially with a hangover like I had.

Bea's grin grew, if possible, even wider as she handed me a letter from our stack of mail. I looked at my name, Sage Simon, written neatly on the front. On the top left hand corner I saw the sender, a man named 'Father Dominic' who wrote to me from a school in Carmel.

The place I was to go to – to find her. The other me.

I don't know how to explain it. I guess it starts with the fact that I can see the dead. I don't know why I can, I guess it's just a gift I was able to unlock. Anyway, I help the ghosts move on. Not all ghosts stay on Earth, though, thank god that they didn't. Because then I would never be able to rehearse my routines, I would be so weighed down with ghostly deeds I had to perform.

About the other me. I met one particular ghost one day, a Mrs. Maria Diego who, at first, almost attacked me because I was the splitting image of another mediator who saved her dead cousin from the astral plane. It was because of this fact that I decided to go to Carmel, California (the place where this other me lived) to find her.

But that wasn't the only reason. I also did it because in Carmel, there lives a specific person I wanted to see. Nothing related to the mediator stuff – but to my dancing career. I wanted to become a Professional Latin Dance Star and ride the waves of fame as I could enter the World Open Dance Championships in Las Vegas. Alej being my dance partner, of course.

That was a far off dream. Right now, I was focusing on various types of arm styling and the basics: Mambo, Cha Cha, Rumba, Salsa etc. And, of course, the supposed meeting of my mother, father and sister, whom I have never really known.

At first, I wasn't completely sure I could trust Maria's judgement, but that was before I realized that Ruby Sinclair, one of the most best Professional Latin dancers resided in Carmel and, although retired, gave advice to everyone who came to her.

And Maria seemed pretty sincere, once you got over the whole attacking thing. I understood her stress and talked it over with her. She told me the story and I told her there was no possible way I could be this 'other' person because I had never – _never_ – used violence when it came to ghost helping.

Maria had said that we – this other mediator and I – looked exactly like twins, down to the forest green eyes, same shade of cream skin and chestnut hair. It was only because I had a large, chalk white scar which ran from my left cheekbone down to my jawline that Maria believed I was not this other mediator that tried to hurt her and her husband.

Eventually, I got to know Maria and learnt to take in the large hoop skirts and elaborate words she spoke and we became fast friends. Maria and I were very close and I did not at all want to loose that friendship. It was just this 'twin' thing that got me a little mixed up.

Especially since, way in the past, I thought I actually had had a twin. But only to be told that she was a figment of my imagination. I remember that I cried for hours on end after that, not believing what the people I grew up with told her. It eventually kicked in and I had forgotten all about my 'twin' until Maria came to me just a year ago and thought I was someone else – the mediator who went by the name, Susannah.

I sighed whilst staring at the letter in my hands, just the mention of my twin's name stirred up unwanted emotions. I was very different now from the girl of my childhood. Once upon a time I used to be a quiet, bookish little girl at the age of five – and very smart as well.

_Look at me now,_ I thought with a smile, I had grown to become this strong, independent and, face it, very graceful dancer. All I needed was a proper boyfriend – Antonio and Alej not at all included, one happened to be married and the other I had absolutely no interest in.

I decided to read the letter now. What could it possibly say that would change me? I mean, Bea, Antonio, Alej and I kept no secrets from each other. _No_ secrets. They knew about the ghost thing and, although a little skeptically at first, respected my gift. Although I will say I did not always want it. Hours of talking to the undead was a little tiring on my watch, especially since I needed to do dancing rehearsals along with choreography every day if I even wanted to dream of becoming a Professional dancer.

The script in the letter was the same cursive writing as was on the envelope. It had obviously been written carefully since there was no apparent mistakes in spelling nor grammar.

Hey! When I said I changed, I didn't mean all of me. I'm still damn smart with reading and writing – another thing that took up time.

Anyways, here is what the letter contained:

_Dear Miss Sage Simon,_

_We, at Junipero Serra Mission Academy are glad to hear from you. I, Father Dominic, the principal of this school cheerfully embrace you with open arms. Your admission to the school has been accepted and we will be happy to see you in a few weeks time. Enclosed are lists of items you may need for the term and a newly arranged timetable for you to follow when you get there._

_There is also something else I wish to talk about. You directed you letter straight to me and it did not go through any filters or human readers. I have heard about your gift as a mediator and I will gladly await your reply when I inform you that I, myself, are also blessed with the same gift. Perhaps, once you arrive in Carmel, California, you and I may chat about techniques and warnings of the mediator kind. Thank you very much for confiding with me this secret, no one but us will know of these exchanges of letters._

_Sincerely,_

_Father Dominic._

Woah, now there's a conversation stopper.

**- Susannah's POV, Saturday Morning –**

I rolled out of bed around 10:30. I, of course, never wanted to get out of my cozy refuge but ended up doing so anyways, only because I had planned to go over to CeeCee's house before we hit the beach together and I spent the night.

Also, I was feeling rather lazy after what had happened with Jesse last night. He informed me he would not be around for a week or two – which was a bummer. What he didn't know is this made me even more depressed than before… thus equaling in laziness.

But I guess after he told me that news, and I felt the tears prickle in my eyes at just the thought of Jesse not being around for two weeks, what he did was quite a delight.

He kissed my hand.

I know, I know – I got you all worked up for just a simple kiss on the hand. But Jesse had hardly talked to me let alone kiss me again, ever since the first feeling event, so this was something major for me.

Okay, so once securing my bed sheets on my bed again and actually standing for the first time that day, I walked into the bathroom and, moments later, promptly walked back out.

My. Hair. Was. A. Mess.

Seriously, if I thought that in the past it had looked bad, I was wrong. I really needed to get it cut, I had been planning to cut my hair for a while but never got the courage to do it. I also wanted to dye it – a nice ebony colour. Or, at least, a deep purple.

The only thing with the dye part? Yeah, my mom wasn't very keen on it. I could manage to scab a darker colour of brown but not the black. I'm sure if me and Cee did what we were planning to do after I slept over her house – my mom would have a heart attack.

So what… I will rebut… it's a free country. Thus equaling: Susannah Simon of the Future Raven black layer cut to my mid-neck. I needed a change, I had never dyed my hair before and CeeCee's mother was a hairdresser, therefore CeeCee had seen her dye people's hair so I was all set with the actual dying.

I packed my bags, after finally securing my hair into a ponytail – I know, I hate it up like that, but it was annoying the shit out of me and I had a HUGE knot in the back – and opened my closet, deciding which clothes to pick out for today. It was a hard choice, most of my good clothes were the one's I had shoved in for the sleepover.

Did I mention that Adam was coming over as well? So I had to choose something good. I may not like Adam that way, but I am _so_ not a slob. I wanted to look good. I mean, who doesn't?

Going for elegance – I chose a white halter-neck dress. It was sort of too big for me – which was why I didn't wear it often. Don't get me wrong, it held up and everything, but I mean too large down the bottom; it was kind of billowy. Despite wanting to look good, I wasn't a show off either.

But something strange told me to wear it and I was all like: go for it. So I placed it on the bed next to my undergarments – also black. Since Jesse wasn't coming around for a while, I thought it was alright if I undressed in my room.

I closed the window and pulled down the new, pink blinds my mom decided to purchase for me in case I had a problem with lack of privacy. I thanked her and took them. I may have hated the colour pink, but have them rather than one of your three stepbrothers see, from the window, you in your nudies… which one would you go for? Pink blinds? Yeah, I thought so too.

I am soooo insane.

Taking off my clothes, I thought once again of Jesse's decision to go with Father Dominic to visit the Arch Bishop. Rolling my eyes at how devoted he was to the good father, I did not notice what I had done. But it was normal… I never realize that I call someone until they actually come.

And this time, that someone was Jesse.

When he appeared, I realized what I had done and yelped loudly. I couldn't to anything though – I was frozen. Jesse had materialized with his back to me so he spun around after hearing my yelp, obviously thinking that I was in some sort of trouble.

"Susannah, what is wr-" He stopped, seeing me frozen there with my hands over my boobs and my legs clenched shut.

Shit. Shit… Shitty Shit Shit. Yup, Susannah in the nudies. Adore it Jesse!

Jesse, being the gentleman he was, turned away and didn't take another glance at me.

Yeah, I wish. For once in his life it seemed that Jesse couldn't do anything else but stare. A horrible blush crept on my face and I saw the same thing happen to him. The blush, I mean. Not the lack of clothes.

Again. I wish.

Jesse managed to get out a few words, even though he was still staring at me. I managed to hide my body with the door of my closet but it wasn't much use. The damage was done.

"S-Susannah…W-why are you…W-what happened to your clothes!"

I rolled my eyes, "I was getting dressed, Jesse." He still looked confused. I sighed and leaned against the clothes within the closet. "I didn't suspect you would come back for, as you said, a week or two, so I thought it would be alright if I got dressed in my bedroom."

The confusion was gone, but a sadness was within Jesse's dark eyes. "I came to say goodbye, Querida. A proper goodbye before I left with Father Dominic. Last night I was merely informing you."

Woah! Did that mean I was going to get another kiss? Maybe on the lips this time… since last night was 'merely informing' me?

"Susannah, _Querida_…" Jesse cleared his throat and took a step forward to me. Obviously he seemed to forget that, oh, maybe I was a little NAKED!

But being the suck up I was to him, I let him come closer. I knew that his gentlemanly ways wouldn't cause him to pin me against the wall and proceed to screw me – despite how much I sincerely wanted him too. I was safe with Jesse. In any situation.

Apparently, Jesse read my mind. About the kissing thing, not the pin-to-the-wall-and-screw-thing. Too bad, my mind cooed, you still can't seem to get past kissing him can you? I knew the answer. No. I couldn't get past kissing. I had an idea why, as well.

Maybe the fact that Jesse was a little bit, I dunno, dead, much?

Alas. Twas true.

I forgot everything I was thinking and about to say when Jesse came over to me and slowly but carefully touched my face. Actually, it was more of a graze. Then, he swooped down and, as I awaited his kiss, he…

Whispered in my ear.

I sagged, disappointed as I felt his cheek touch mine – FACE CHEEK, dirty minded fiends! – and he spoke silkily, "Go get dressed, Susannah. Then I will say goodbye." He promptly withdrew and turned to sit on the window-seat – the back of his head facing me.

Grabbing the halter, the undies and the bra I bolted into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me and locking it abruptly. Without wasting any time, I slipped the bra over my head after already clasping it shut – it was a back closing one, this was the easiest way of putting it on – and moved it over my chest. Then, after securing my undergarments into place, I worked on the halter-neck dress.

The way I slipped into it was perfect; the sort of 'made for me' perfect that people saw in the movies. Only my dress wasn't any ball gown and I was hardly the princess who decided to wear it.

I only had one problem with the top. Tying up the spaghetti strings on the back. I knew I should have gone straight down to mom, but I didn't. I loved Jesse too much to keep him waiting. Love, it does strange things to people.

Waltzing into my bedroom, I approached Jesse, who was still seated on the window seat – he hadn't moved an inch since I left him.

To let him know I was there, I crept up behind him and, in the next two seconds, ruffled his hair up. "Wakey Wakey," I cooed.

I swear Jesse jumped about two meters up in the air. Must be something to do with the kinetic powers, I thought. "_Nombre de Dios_, Susannah, you scared the _mierda_ out of me." Brown eyes met with my green ones and I felt myself falling for him all over again – and he would never know.

Covering the case up very well, I raised an eyebrow and inquired, "What's that mean, _mierda_? Is it Spanish for the word shit or something?" The flush that spread across Jesse's cheeks made me realize – I was correct.

My eyes bulged, "And I thought I saw everything." I plopped down on top of his outstretched leg, causing him to once again, move in surprise. While he was trying to pry his leg from underneath my but, I kept teasing, in a singsong voice: "Jesse said shit, Jesse said shit, Jesse said shi-"

"SUSANNAH!" It was my turn to jump two meters. My eyes immediately filled up with tears. He yelled at me. I had never seen Jesse loose his cool. My cheeks flamed and I felt two wet trails make their way down my face. I didn't usually react like this when someone yelled at me, but this was _Jesse_.

_Jesse _had never yelled at me before.

_Jesse _had never looked at me with so much fury before.

And what was even worse was that it sincerely, honestly scared me.

After his outburst, I remembered whimpering pathetically and leaning against the window seat, not looking at him as I tried to regain my control over the huge sobs that were emitted from deep within my throat.

Jesse obviously was very sorry for yelling when he realized how much effect it had on me. Immediately, his gaze went from angered to concerned – back to the way things usually were.

Except for the fact that I was mentally scarred and breaking down in front of him.

"Susannah," Jesse's voice was at it's most gentle when he spoke to me then. I didn't reply, just continued to sob away in the corner of the window seat. "Susannah, I am sorry." He then did something I thought, looking back, he would never ever do again.

He pulled me into his arms and hugged me.

Again, sorry if you wanted more action. But I was a blubbering mess and it seemed that Jesse was too concerned to want to get frisky. I was too _sad_ to want to get frisky.

"I did not mean to yell at you, I lost control of my emotions. It will never happen again." With that, he swooped down and kissed my forehead, then cuddled me closer. Despite my depression, I noticed how warm Jesse's hugs were and smiled a little. With a masculine hand my tears were wiped away and he turned me on an angle slightly so I could see the window – adorned with pink blinds.

And I just so happened to see my face in that reflection.

And once again, I leapt out of Jesse's embrace and raced into the bathroom.

I'm betting, even outside of my bathroom, in my room, on the window seat, Jesse could hear me exclaim, "I LOOK LIKE A TOMATO!"

I'm betting this even more when Jesse came skidding to the threshold of my bathroom. When he saw me, his face cracked into a grin. "You do not look, as you say, like a tomato. _Querida_-" Oh how I love that word. "-You are beautiful." Through my outrage at the dots of red decorating my face in an evil manner, I smiled a little at Jesse's remark.

"But you do, in fact, have many red spots on your face." Oh my god. He did not just say that.

Jesse apparently saw my anger, "Goodbye, Susannah, I will see you in a week." He skidded again and dematerialized before I could catch up to him.

I grabbed a shampoo bottle from my cabinet and threw it against the wall.

And promptly, to bodice of my dress flopped down – I didn't tie it up.

I was SO glad Jesse didn't see that.

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…**? Woah. When I said I would make it long I didn't mean this long… meh. Oh well. I guess this means you guys are just going to have to give me ULTRA long reviews… hehehehe.**

**I had no idea where half of this chapter came from. I wrote Suze's POV at around 9:00 last night so it's a little shabby. Personally, I kinda liked it.**

**Meh, whateva floats ya boat.**

**ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:**

**_Blue x crush_ – I know. Isn't Jesse/Suze SO cute? I love your fic by the way, good work!**

**_Maggielyn_ – The poetry is a breeze. I don't know why I add it into my stories. It just seemed relevant. Lol. Thanks for the review, I hope you like this chapter as well.**

**_Mysteriously Mystical – _Ooh. I want to see the meeting too… The next chapter will reveal ALL! (oh great, now I sound like a psychotic narrator who has been hit by too many bricks --)**

**_Whitedestiny34_ – Yeah, so do I. Sage was based on a person, Vanessa Williams, that caught my eye one day. That chick works wonders with salsa, I swear. You'd love her dancing. I love her music as well. Thanks for reviewing!**

**_Tink20 – _I promise I will (keep going, I mean).**

**_Alexlily – _Soz, I wasn't being rude when I was laughing at you. I don't know why I laugh… Weird 0o (That's one for the X files to track down, I can see it now: File 1029394 – The case of the Psychotic Isadora Sage Sofia) lol. My dad is an English Teacher so he experiments with all the poetry stuff, I happened to inherit it from him… gah! Lol. Alej is NOT Jesse. Lol. Alejandro is bite-worthy because he's such a grouchy bum but Jesse… woaho! I would rather kiss or hug him instead of biting him.**

**_swishaliciouus girlie_ – Confidence booster! Lol. Your review was so great, that I actually CONSIDERED answering you question. Chapter three – the next chapter – will be when they meet and that meeting will go over to chapter four… hopefully. If things turn out good. :)**

**_shawna-xo_ – Nah. Alej isn't much like Jesse, except that they both come from Spanish families. Alejandro is from Puerto Rico and Jesse is from… somewhere. I couldn't be bothered consulting my Mediator books at this time. Oh welly. Anyways, yeah. Alej has dark BROWN hair whereas Jesse has black. His skin is a little darker and his eyes are lighter. Alejandro is also alive, not a ghost. I just thought I would point that out cause it would annoy me if both of them were the same as well.**

**Mrs. Nikki Slater – Thank ya! I hope you liked this chappie as well:grins:**

**∞** **Isa ∞**


	4. IV: Real Emotion

**Aloha! No, I am not suddenly in Hawaii. Thanks for asking, though. I want to go to Hawaii. Has any of you been yet?**

**Okay, getting a little weird now. Sorry, I'm just drunk on happiness that I got this update up faster. I had to work hard on it though. And I better get lots of reviews – long is appreciated, but short one's are cute… I aint complaining… just review and we'll leave it at that :) – for the length of this chapter. Gah.**

**A little, and unfortunate, note for all the 'Stuck In Between' fans, but I'm in MAJOR writers block. I'm hoping that a long two days of my friend, Anna, will cure my blockage. But I can't make any promises… Oh woe is me. I miss Sonya, Zane and Oryon from my first fic already :mourns:**

**The usual – Enjoy. This chapter may be a little weird, I was very tired in the moments of writing this so I can't explain things as good as I can while awake. Insanity may also ensue. I think it turned out pretty good though…**

**∞ Isa ∞**

**P.S. There is a teaser at the bottom, of one of my fave scenes to come.**

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**- Susannah's POV, Friday Afternoon -**

I came back home the following afternoon from CeeCee's place, sleeping bag in hand and sunglasses across my eyes.

I felt good. So did my hair.

Now that it was black, I mean.

Woo! Cheers for me: I finally got it done! It looked so very cool, my eyes stood out and even looked like something OTHER than grass green. They looked deeper, happier. And I sure felt happier as well.

Unfortunately, that happiness simmered somewhat when I walked into the house. Oh, Mum, Andy and my three ultra annoying stepbrothers were there, but the absence of the other member of our family was beyond noticeable.

Yes, I am talking about the dog. Max. My heart mourns for his return, my one true love…

Uh, no. Max was there. Oh he was there alright. He made that plainly obvious when he walked into the living room, saw I was there and promptly started barking his head off.

It seemed that dogs weren't as colour-blind as I thought. Hmm.

This little event caused everyone in the house, from Mum and Andy in the kitchen to David in his bedroom – does he EVER come out of there, other than for school? Doesn't seem like it… – and even to Dopey in the garage, to suddenly burst into the living room.

Well, I got the entrance I had always wanted.

Although the reactions were kind of different to exactly what I was expecting. Oh, there was the initial shock thing, I mean sure – everyone goes through that.

Including Max.

Yet I hardly expected Andy to come up and hug me without noticing anything, since he never let Sleepy or Dopey die their hair. In my ear, he whispered, "Nice job, bought everyone down here for early dinner."

Ohhhh-kay… slow and sarcastically now, folks:

O…K…A…Y…

David cocked a single eyebrow at me and asked, a grin appearing on his face all of a sudden, "Interesting choice, Suze." I blinked. No long, boring explanations?

…Weird.

Dopey looked me up and down, "Whatever." Was all he said before exiting.

A little less weird.

But… eww. The way he stared at me for longer than five seconds before loosing interest? Definitely not Dopey.

Well, not with ME anyway.

Not saying that Dopey ISN'T an incest.

Not saying that I KNOW Dopey is an incest.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

Mum was outraged. On the plus side, I knew that she was normal, unlike everyone else in our house.

On the minus side, who would want to know that your Mum's normal when it's a possibility you could get grounded for all eternity?

Not me, that's for sure.

After taking in a few minutes of my mother yelling at me, Sleepy, the only person who hadn't joined us that evening – except for, you know… Gah! Stop thinking, Suze – stumbled down the stairs.

I'd say he was the most weirdest of all.

Now, you ask, how could my stepbrother, Sleepy, be any weirder than he already is?

Easy. Like this…

Sleepy looked at me. Or, at least, at my hair. He took a good look.

Then, as if casually, shrugged his shoulders. "Nice hair." My Mum, who had been glaring at me, suddenly stopped and looked up at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

And then, as simply as it could be put, he turned around and left.

I think we were all stunned for a moment. Sleepy actually complemented me? Woah. Kodak Moment.

No, scratch that.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY FAMILY?

I wasn't stunned. I was outraged at my family's weirdness.

Okay, extra weirdness.

But I, being the superior and ultra beautiful (ha, ha) being that I was, just kept all my outrage and shock from the prying eyes of my folks. And, with that, skipped up the stairs.

Okay… CUT!

Skipped? SKIPPED?

WHEN DID I START _SKIPPING_ UP THE STAIRS?

Something MUST have been in that hair dye. I swear. Because I have never, not for ten years, at least, SKIPPED up the stairs.

Let alone in front of my family.

My badass reputation is RUINED! RUINED I TELL YOU!

Yep. Must have been the hair dye. I'll have to call CeeCee.

Oh yeah, and I can just IMAGINE the conversation…

_Me_ – Hey, Cee, it's just me, Suze.

_CC_ – Hi, Why are you calling?

_Me_ – Uh. I just wanted to know if you spiked my hair dye.

_CC_ – Uhm. No.

_Me_ – Okay, See you.

Yeah. So I decided against the interrogation of CeeCee.

I noticed it really when I entered my room. In fact, I was just about to giggle and strike a pose, saying, "Hey, Jesse. Like my new hairdo." But I didn't.

Because Jesse wasn't there.

I shrugged it off. He'd be back, I knew, in a week. Although he _still_ hadn't said a proper goodbye to me. I sighed and pulled off my sunglasses.

Jesse had been away for more than a week before, Father Dominic – somehow – kept him busy at the rectory. I wondered how he did it. Since I'm damn sure he didn't spend half of his time kissing him.

Not like I did.

Eww.

No, really. I just realized how wrong that sounded. Father Dom and Jesse.

My MIND is SCARRED for LIFE.

Thanks, dirty-minded brain. Such an honor to have you in my presence.

_Not_.

Seriously though. I didn't know what I was feeling. Oh, I knew one thing though.

I really, _really_ missed Jesse. And he'd only been gone a day. Not even that.

I had survived without him longer, I just – just…

Didn't understand this.

My moping and weird reverie was all snapped out when Mum entered my room again. I sighed, looking out my window for comfort. "If you're here about the hair thing, I'm sorry. I just wanted to try it out," I said truthfully, "And it's only a rinse. It will come out in fifteen washes."

A hand was placed on my shoulder, "No. It's not that. Although I do wish you had asked me first," Mum replied, a small smile on her face. It was her forgiving smile. I grinned myself. It was alright between us again. Not that much had been wrong or anything…

"So," I broke the silence with my voice and turned to her, "What did you come to scold – I mean, _talk_ to me about."

Mum's smile grew larger, she giggled as if she were sixteen again. "No. I didn't come to scold you on anything, Suzie. I came to ask you a question."

I raised my eyebrows before sitting on my window-seat. It smelt like Jesse. I grinned. Mum didn't notice the smell because Jesse didn't exist to her. But he sure did to me.

And I missed him. I didn't even care if he called me a tomato anymore, I only wanted him back. With me.

Not that he liked me in that special way or anything. Hey. A girl can always hope, can't she?

"What is it, Mum?" I asked after a moment.

Mum looked nervous, I briefly wondered why. Mum hardly got nervous around me unless she knew I didn't like the topic. "Well, Sweetie." She sighed, pausing briefly before continuing. "Do you, by any chance remember someone in your life, when you were littler?"

My eyes widened, "Is this about Dad?" Mum shook her head.

"No, Suze. It isn't. Its about… well, I don't know if you'll remember, it was just so long ago –" Mum stumbled over her words awkwardly.

"Get straight to the point, Mum!" I threw my hands up and smiled a bit. She gave me an inept one straight back before joining me on the window-seat.

"Sage." Was all she said. Now my other eyebrow rose. Sage? Who was she? I had never had someone called Sage in my life, let alone in childhood days.

I shrugged. Trying to act calm, whilst in my mind, a million questions were flying around in my head. 'Who was sage?' being the most common one. "Never heard of her."

My mum sighed again. She put her head in her hands for a moment before straightening and turning to me. "She was…how do I put this? This may come as a shock, Suzie." Her gaze intensified. "Sage, well – she was a big part in your life when you were five or so years old. I'm surprised you don't remember her but I guess its because after she went, you were in a devastating state."

"Who is Sage, Mum?"

My lips were pursed into a straight line on my face. I was all around seriousness. Something that could get Mum this nervous had to be something that would either outrage me or that deeply upset her.

"She's your twin, Suzie." I blinked. Twin? I didn't have a twin. Mum continued, biting her lip. "Sage was separated from you, from our family, when you were five. You didn't…" I could see her clench and unclench her hands apprehensively. "… You couldn't eat for days, you refused to talk to anyone when she left… Every night, when we came to see you, you would ask the same question."

"What? What question?" This was all too confusing. It was all to unreal for me to believe.

Seeing ghosts? Yeah. I can take that. Lived with them ma whole life.

Having a twin sister? Nah. I don't think so.

Mum's voice cracked horribly. I knew she was getting distressed. Personally, I don't like it when Mum gets upset. It makes me angry at whatever made her sad. And this time, it was this Sage chick. "You used to ask to us, every night, 'Where is Sage?' You didn't believe us when we said she was gone. So we eventually gave up."

Hey, I knew myself when I was five or so years old. I would have persisted in asking, when I told Mum this, she nodded. "You did. You kept asking. So we – we…"

I put my hands on her shoulders and interrupted her story to assure her, "You can tell me. I won't get angry or anything, Mum. See-" I smiled and paused before continuing. "-You can trust me."

Mum smiled, "Yeah. I know I can trust you, Suze. It's just, we did a horribly bad thing. You have to understand that we were in a lot of stress at the time."

"Go on," was all I said in reply.

"Well, we lied to you. Just to make you stop asking about her. We told you that she was your imaginary friend, all up in your mind. You went weird. Again, you didn't eat, talk to anybody and you locked yourself up in your room. You cried a lot as well. But then, just like that… you forgot about her."

Mum's worry lines when from hard to severe, "Then – then Daddy died and you went through it all again. The four stages, the therapists told us. Denial, Sadness, Anger, and then Apprehension."

I nodded, "So your telling me this now, why?" I didn't mean to be rude and although this was all round shocking for me to hear, I still wanted to know why Mum wanted to tell me about it now.

She sighed again, "Suzie. Sage is coming to Carmel tonight."

**- Sage's POV, Friday Afternoon -**

Bea came into my room at about four o' clock. I looked up at her and smiled before zipping up another one of my many bags and placing them next to my bed.

"How are you about this, Baby doll?" Bea was always the sympathetic one. That's what made me love her so much. I raced up to her, feeling kiddish, and gave her a huge hug.

"You know I'm fine with it, Bea." I shot her a wink. She nudged me and said, in a barely audible voice.

"Y'know, it would be more fun if you took Alejandro with you." She nudged me again, shooting another smile. I gave her a grin, laughed and then pretended to puke. This caused Bea to laugh along with me.

"I told… my parents in Carmel that it was only going to be me coming along." I sighed, I really was considering in taking Alej with me. It would bring some stress of my shoulders, if he was there, for sure.

Promptly after saying this, Alej stick his head through the threshold and grinned at us, white teeth sparkling. "Were you chicas talking about me?"

Bea smiled and I couldn't resist a giggle, "I dunno."

I turned to her, "Were we?"

Bea just turned back to Alej, who was pouting at me, "Awww… What did you say?"

Antonio appeared behind him, "Yeah, what did mean old _Senorita_ Sage say about you, Alej? Your such a _niño_…" He hit him over the head, lightly, before leaving. We could hear his laughter in the hallway.

"I was just contemplating about your whereabouts tonight." I said, using large words on purpose. Alej looked confused. I grinned, I always knew he was a little dumber than me.

Okay, a lot. But yeah… I loved him anyway.

Bea left after that, smiling herself and laughing at the fact that Alej didn't have a huge vocabulary.

I rolled my eyes, "AKA. Are you coming to Carmel with me or not?" Alej's eyes widened. He looked at me with an eyebrow risen my way.

"Really? You mean it?" I nodded. Alej then did something I didn't really expect him to. He grabbed my shoulders and placed a kiss on my lips. I felt weird. My heart started to pump louder in my chest and I felt a flush come up on my cheeks.

Alej was all calm. He wrapped a hand around my waist after the moments of silence and moved in a Mambo beat. I grinned, forgetting what had happened moments ago and started to move with him. Eventually we fell onto my neatly made bed and I breathed out, exhausted after dancing with that intensity. Especially without any music.

I noticed that Alejandro's arm was around my neck. He pulled me in closer and whispered, "Sorry." Then he withdrew, leaving me to blink.

Shrugging casually, I smiled. "Yeah." I replied, brushing some of my hair out of my face, "I hated that." Alej had his own smile, that eyebrow rose again. Pfft.

"Really?"

I flushed, "No."

He kissed the top of my head, "Good." And then he sat up. "I need to go pack." Before disappearing. I stayed on my bed. Wondering about what just happened.

Gah, I thought, This is Alej. The same guy I went skydiving with, the same guy that hugged me when I cried about cramping up in the competitions, the same guy that told me, when we were twelve, that he had never had his first kiss and I told him I hadn't had mine either – and we decided to kiss just for an experiment. Then we raced into the bathroom and washed our mouth out with soap…

Could I really learn to love him in that special way?

I knew the answer. It came to me straight away. No doubt about it.

Yes.

But if I did, that would spell out disaster. Especially since I felt so confused right now. I sighed and buried my head in my pillow.

Would this trouble ever stop coming out to get me? I hoped that Carmel would be different – a new experience.

I sighed and lifted myself up and off my bed. Then I walked out into the dance hall, where Antonio was hanging up some lights and Bea was reading. I sighed. What was wrong with these people?

"Where's the music?" I asked. With a few more steps into the hall I realized that Alej was behind me. He walked in and stood next to me. "All packed," he whispered. I couldn't resist giggling and forgetting my thoughts of him moments before.

Bea stood. "Oh I guess we could dance to a few songs," then she looked at Antonio, who nodded back.

Alej took my hands. "Come on, Sage, lets dance – we're out of here!" He pushed me into a hug and spun me around, causing me to squeal. Then he let me back down as Bea grinned at us, putting on a song.

Jennifer Lopez – Aint It Funny.

Again we moved. A rumba in the slow parts and the Cha Cha Cha in the chorus. We were sure that they both wouldn't go together but personally, I think none of us cared.

A lot of arm styling was involved in the song, I found it really felt good when arm styling was involved. It made me feel like I was a professional in the World Open Dance Championships. Alej being my dance partner.

"Move those hips, Sage," Alej whispered to me when the chorus was on and we began doing the Cha Cha to the music. I arched back and then arose again, Alej still having a vice grip on my waist. I grabbed his upper arms and he held mine as I did as he commanded – my hips were swaying so fast that the mini-skirt I was wearing whipped my sides.

When the song ended, Antonio looked at the clock. It was 6 o' clock. Time sure went fast, "Lets go eat, Gang."

I slipped into some old vans, did my hair up into a cute style with my black french clip and secured my best suede jacket as we walked out of the studio to go get some food. I remembered the number on my plane ticket, still up in my room. My flight was scheduled for eleven thirty pm. I was fine with it. Being a dancer, we stayed up all night at times.

I sighed as we hit the footpath from walking down the stairs. My legs were vaguely sore. I just wish I had a professional massager with me. A foot rub sure would be nice.

Alej appeared beside me and took my hand in his. Bea held my other one and we walked down the streets, the four of us, all holding hands. It was fun doing that. We did it a lot.

But then why did my hand feel so hot in Alejandro's that night?

I forced that thought away and envisioned me dancing in the championships. Yet all my visions contained Alejandro. There was no way to escape him. So I did what I usually did, I thought of my favorite movie: 'Shall we Dance.'

Yet not even Jennifer Lopez and her great acting and singing could pry my mind away from Alej. I groaned in frustration but kept walking, and let my mind succumb to his wrath.

"Alej?" I asked as we neared our usual eating place. His head cocked to the side.

"Yeah, Whatsup?"

"Get out of my head." I didn't see his expression, I turned my head back to looking straight forward as we entered the Café – Take Away shop.

**∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞**

**HOLEY MOLEY! THIS CHAPTER WAS A HUGE ONE! (I really did yell that at home, I could give Steve Erwin in Australia a run for his money...)**

**I know! I know! You all want them to meet, and they will. I promised it would happen in this chapter but I didn't want to rush it… Hey, I can assure you. If I get motivated to write it after this whopper chapter, it will be huge. An amazement.**

**And you all know what motivates me the most, eh? – Yup, that's right. REVIEWS!**

**So, be a 'baby doll' like Bea says, and review for me…**

**As for the loyal readers who reviewed last chapter, here are my replies:**

**_Ms. Nikki Slater _– lmao. I do know. :) I made that to be funny… I feel sorry for Suze, Jesse called her skin blotchy.**

**_Whitedestiny34 –_ Heh. I know the crying might be a little much but read the start of Shadowland and then the start of Darkest Hour, Suze has changed. And I know how she feels, my true love once yelled at me and I was in hysterics afterwards… lol. Thanks for the review. Was this update fast enough for ya!**

**_swishalicious girlie_ – Lol. I understand why you would be pissed at Jesse… making Suze cry. I dunno why I put Maria in it, maybe to cause a little trouble. Along with Paul Slater, of course. It's just fun when you shove some enemies into a story :) The reason why Sage is with Alej and his family, eh? It will be revealed later. But for now, enjoy this new chappie.**

**_Alexlily_ – Hehehehe… Seriously, it may be your fave subject and all, but having a dad for English isn't really fun. Especially when he does 'Pop Quizzes' :shudders: Like I mentioned in swishalicious girlie's acknowledgement, I put Maria in there to stir up some trouble… :evil laugh: I don't like when people add characters that are exactly like Jesse or Paul either. It just takes the lights off Meg's Characters.**

**_Little Tinkerbell Girl – _What evil fanfiction writer would I be if I didn't include more Jesse/Suze scenes? Poor Suze, Jesse has gone for a week. Her heart is broken. Lol. He'll come back, and then the plot will get hell-fluffy. Thanks for the review, by the way, I'm so happy people are telling me what they think :grins: With the Sage/Alej? To be really honest, I'm not really sure what I'm doing with them. If you read Sage's POV in this chapter, you'll see that her emotions are a little screwed. Unfortunately. Lol. Hope to see you again soon…**

**As for anyone else.**

**Review. Please.**

**Bluntly,**

**∞ Isa ∞**

**P.S. I'm feeling a little good. So I decided to include a Teaser for anyone who is still reading this. :grins: It's one of my favorite scenes I have thought up so far…**

**_The music took control of me. As I moved, I felt Jesse move along in the beat of my song. He was situated behind me as my hips swung and my arms moved in their styling beat. A heavy Latin-Salsa-pop pulsation came over the still blowing trumpets._**

_**We moved faster. I felt Jesse's hands on my hips as I spun and we took the next move into a small arc.**_

**Black machine, Jazz machine**

**Black machine, Jazz machine**

_**After the small interlude, I found Jesse and myself stepping across the length of Suze's room, together. Jesse sure wasn't kidding when he said he could Samba. My body enthused like a wave in water, so did Jesse's. His had found my cheek as we stepped right, right, right, then left.**_

_**After three minutes, the song came to an end. Jesse did the last little move, a spin and in a rapid motion of sweeping me to the ground before picking me up in the nick of time. I felt free.**_

_**But my good feelings came to an end as Jesse held me and finally, let go. I smiled at him, he smiled at me but then I made a horrible mistake.**_

"_**Your good," I said, "Really good."**_

_**I didn't notice my mistake until, from the threshold near the exit of the room, came a voice much like my own. "Sage?"**_

_**I turned. Suze stood there, hair still dyed black and a heartbroken look on her face.**_

**Shit.**


	5. Byeness

Hey peeps, Isadora here,

I know, like, tons of authors are doing this now, but I can't help it – I have extreme writers block on most of my stories (Stuck in Between, Rain Song's Sequel, Sage and Susannah... all of them) and, well, term three exam week is coming amongst us year tenners, and, well, I don't have enough time to continue writing fanfiction.

But DON'T BE WORRIED! This no-fanfiction interval is TEMPORARY ONLY! I will be back after exam week (which, by the way, takes around two weeks... not one) and fighting fit to write some more! I promise that I'll have speedy updates to all of my stories.

Although I'm not sure I will start writing the sequel to Rain Song (:grins: which I have decided to call: 'Happens all the Time') until I finish 'Stuck in Between,' which only has about seven chapters to go. I'm trying to get to twenty...

Soo... I must go.

For now.

I'll be back.

(Don't you just _loooooove_ the terminator?)

From, Isadora.

P.S. A little question for rOSEY, how could you think up the fact that Sage was a dancer, Alejandro the hot dude I got from Lluvia's book (the one she is currently writing) and Bea and Antonio! Even if they have different names! That's impossible!

You have _got_ to be lying.

Or, at least, you're a really good mind reader.

Man, half of Sage and Susannah came from Lluvia! The other half came from my dreams and a few bits and pieces to come came from a load of movies that I've just watched.

GAH!

P.S.S. TO LLUVIA, my fellow Chaysister ... I LOVE YOU TO BITS, BABE! CONTINUE WITH CANDELA AND SEND ME THE UPDATES ... PLEASE! Lol. C'ya.


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